


Lost And Found

by dango96



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Crying, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Black Eagles Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24334042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dango96/pseuds/dango96
Summary: Edelgard is kidnapped by Those Who Slither In The Dark, and Hubert fails to cope.For a prompt on3houseskinkmeme(no sexual content though).
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg & Hubert von Vestra, My Unit | Byleth/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67
Collections: FE3H Kink Meme





	Lost And Found

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be real with you, this fic is mostly just an excuse for Hubert to cry and Byleth to comfort him.
> 
> Prompt was: "I want to see Hubie absolutely breaking down. No ‘single silent tear down the cheek’ nonsense, I mean really crying, whole body shaking with sobs and can’t stop no matter how hard he tries. And he’s definitely trying very hard to stop, because someone else just stumbled upon him having a breakdown.
> 
> What happens to cause this and who finds him is up to you!"

Edelgard - Her Majesty - is gone. Taken by Those Who Slither in the Dark during the night, stolen from her own bed. They'd gotten past guards, past wards, somehow. Even now, he doesn't understand how it'd happened - only that it is recourse for his own actions, his attempts to fight them.

They'd waited until she'd let her guard down. Until all of them had. Until victory seemed to be so close to their grasp, so close they'd been celebrating the end of this damned war.

_We've all been played for fools._

The news of her disappearance nearly sends him to his knees, panic spreading across his body like spidering cracks across a broken mirror. It's all that Hubert can do to hold himself together upon receiving it, to breathe long enough to close the door behind Ferdinand and his somber eyes.

He knows, rationally knows, has had a _lifetime_ of training to know, that fear is pointless. Nothing but a distraction. And the longer he waits, the less chance they have of finding her alive. The rest of the Black Eagles will be waiting for his command, his cunning plan to get her back. Fear is a selfish waste of time, and time is running out.

But despite himself, he collapses, paralyzed by fear and despair, struck down by it more quickly than any poison. He sits on the floor like a child, wrapping his arms around himself, curling inward.

_This is your fault. This is entirely your fault. You dared to go against them. You dared believe you were smart enough, clever enough, to survive and overcome a threat that has been here for thousands of years._

Tears start to bead at his eyes, and he swipes them away with the edge of his sleeve, cursing himself for it. This is illogical. A pointless chemical reaction in his brain. If they want to save her, they need to act quickly and rationally. He needs to think. Thinking and planning is what he's good at, after all.

But then he places it - the reason for his overblown distress. He realizes that it's much too similar to when Edelgard was taken as a child. He'd been helpless to save her then, and he feels just as helpless to save her now.

_When she returns to you again, how broken will she be this time?_

And that's all it takes.

Her Majesty is everything. Everything he's ever done has been for her. He'd promised himself that he would never lose her again.

He'd failed.

Hubert _breaks_ , choking on an ugly sob, his eyes welling up and overflowing with tears as his mind goes numb. His entire body rattles with every miserable sound forced out of him, every miserable gasp for air.

And he is suddenly ten again, in his room, crying inconsolably for Lady Edelgard. He knows that something is horribly wrong. The bruises he'd gotten during his daring escape ache terribly, but not as badly as his chest.

He was - is - a servant rendered purposeless. Purpose - his entire life's purpose. Where would he be without her? How could he let anything happen to her? He desperately runs through the possibilities in his mind, wondering what he could have done differently, and comes up empty-handed every time.

Worthless. Worthless. 'You must protect Lady Edelgard with your life.' He hadn't even been able to accomplish that much. It would've been better if he'd died for her, or taken her place. If he'd suffered at the hands of those disgusting shadow-crawlers instead, bled for their twisted machinations.

_You've failed._

Hubert sobs. Hubert shakes. Hubert curls harder, digs his hands into his sides hard enough that his fingernails would draw blood if not for the barrier of clothing.

_How can you ever trust yourself to not fail her again?_

"Hubert?"

His head snaps up. He's so out of it that he can't even reach for the knife on his belt, vision fuzzy with tears. For a moment, he is so disoriented as to think the figure above him is his mother, the only thing that'd been able to bring him out of his inconsolable state so many years ago, standing in the doorway of his bedroom with sympathetic eyes.

But his gaze soon clears enough that he can make out the woman standing in front of him - her navy blue hair, the subtle concern in her otherwise flat expression. She has the forethought, at least, to close the door behind her for his dignity.

_Byleth._

Even after recognizing her, he can't bring himself to say anything. Even if he could, he'd likely sound ridiculously hoarse. Shame floods him at the prospect of their dear professor witnessing him in such a state - the only one worse right now would be Ferdinand, or Edelgard herself.

So Hubert just stares. His cheeks are hot, his throat is dry, his eyes ache in their sockets. He blinks slowly, tears silently rolling down his face, as if daring her to mock him. _Go ahead. Look at the disgraced Marquis Vestra, brought to his knees by his own failure._

But she does not mock him.

Instead, she kneels beside him and wraps her arms around his shoulders, gently hugging him.

It takes him a moment to register what's happening, and for some reason, the foreignness of it all - the touch he has so scarcely been given his entire life, the kindness, the warmth of another human body - makes him sob harder. He becomes like an animal, acting on instinct, gripping her like a lifeline as he dampens her shoulder.

She does not flinch, or pull away. She simply strokes his back, rubs her palm there in soothing motions. There is an odd mechanical nature to her touch, like she isn't used to giving it - and it doesn't stop him from sobbing, but it makes him feel better by degrees.

It feels like it lasts for hours, shaking violently in her embrace, crying until he has no tears left to give. And Hubert becomes numb again, but this time, the all-consuming panic slowly gives way to a cried-out haze.

She must realize it, too, because she lifts her hand to stroke his hair. It is a shockingly calming gesture, and he leans into it, even with his face still buried in her shoulder.

"It's okay," Byleth whispers, even though it feels like things have never been less okay than at this moment. "We'll get her back."

Her words are like an arrow piercing the fog in his brain, jolting him a little closer to reality. But he is too numbed up to feel panic at the reminder of Edelgard's predicament.

Instead, he finds he wants to believe the professor's words. That things will be okay, somehow. That they will rescue her. She has been right before, after all.

It may be his failure, but it is not his alone to rectify. He is no longer ten, fighting his way to Fhirdiad on foot with nothing but anger and wild, unrestrained magic. He is not alone.

He has an army behind him, this time.

Hubert's fingers curl into her shirt, and his reply comes out a hoarse, broken whisper.

"Yes," he reassures himself, "we will."

**Author's Note:**

> Please consider leaving a comment if you enjoyed my work!


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